politics

Definition of Politics

(noun) The art of the exercise of power; the combination of individuals or parties (groups) making decisions that affect others and institutions (i.e., government, legal system, military, police) that governs based on those decisions.

Example of Politics

• In the United States, a politician goes on a publicity campaign to help them achieve the role of President.

Politics Pronunciation

Pronunciation Usage Guide

Syllabification: pol·i·tics

Audio Pronunciation

International Phonetic Alphabet

• American English – /ˈpɑləˌtɪks/
• British English – /ˈpɒlᵻtɪks/

Usage Notes

• Types:
  • macropolitics
  • micropolitics

Related Quotation

• “‘The personal is political‘ is a powerful slogan that was coined during the women’s movement of the 1960s and 1970s. It means that what happens in our individual, private lives—at places such as our jobs, clubs, homes, or schools—reflects the power dynamics in broader, public society. As the twentieth-century political scientist Harold Lasswell famously said, politics is the process of who gets what, when, and how. Feminism brings that concept from the public realm into our personal worlds. It recognizes that seemingly personal issues point to larger, institutionalized practices and are therefore legitimately political issues. Another way to understand this concept is to ask questions such as who gets the goods and resources in society and who bears the burdens? Who sits in positions of power in Fortune 500 companies and who cleans the company offices? Who does the bulk of parenting and who gets paid more on the job? Who is sexually bought and who buys sexual access to bodies? Who is statistically more likely to experience domestic violence and who are the violent offenders? Who gets catcalled on the street? And while we’re at it, we can ask who risks their lives in war. Who makes the decisions to go to war in the first place?” (Tarrant 2009:8–9).

Related Video

Additional Information

• Crime and Law Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
• Politics and Policy Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
• Word origin of “politics” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
• Almond, Gabriel Abraham, and Sidney Verba. [1963] 2016. The Civic Culture: Political Attitudes and Democracy in Five Nations. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
• Birch, Anthony. 2016. The British System of Government. 10th ed. London: Routledge.
• Budge, Ian, David H. McKay, Kenneth Newton, and John R. Bartle. 2004. The New British Politics. 4th ed. London: Routledge.
• Coxall, Bill, Lynton Robins, and Robert Leach. 2003. Contemporary British Politics. 4th ed. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Dunleavy, Patrick, Colin Hay, Richard Heffernan, and Philip Cowley, eds. 2006. Developments in British Politics 8. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Jones, Bill, and Philip Norton. 2014. Politics UK. 8th ed. London: Routledge.
• Kingdom, John. 2014. Government and Politics in Britain. 4th ed. Cambridge: Polity.
• Lowi, Theodore, and Benjamin Ginsberg. 2006. American Government: Freedom and Power. Brief 2006 ed. London: Norton.
• Nugent, Neill. 2017. The Government and Politics of the European Union. 8th ed. London: Palgrave.
• Parsons, Talcott. 1969. Politics and Social Structure. New York: Free Press.
• Pierre, Jon, and B. Guy Peters. 2000. Governance, Politics and the State. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
• Seidler, Victor J. 1994. Recovering the Self: Morality and Social Theory. New York: Routledge.
• von Clausewitz, Carl. 1832. On War. London: Penguin.
• Youngs, Gillian. 2013. International Relations in a Global Age: A Conceptual Challenge. Hoboken: Wiley.

Related Terms

• authority
• government
• institution
• law
• policy
• politics
• political system
• power
• sanction
• society
• State

References

Henslin, James M. 2012. Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach. 10th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Tarrant, Shira. 2009. Men and Feminism. Berkeley, CA: Seal Press.

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Cite the Definition of Politics

ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2017. “politics.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved April 1, 2023 (https://sociologydictionary.org/politics/).

APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)

politics. (2017). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/politics/

Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2017. “politics.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed April 1, 2023. https://sociologydictionary.org/politics/.

MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)

“politics.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2017. Web. 1 Apr. 2023. <https://sociologydictionary.org/politics/>.